‘Chernobyl Diaries’ Trailer: Nuclear Horror Story

Oren Peli continues to fill out his ever-growing horror filmography with Chernobyl Diaries, a film about a group of explorers who encounter some horrific things when they go searching around a town close to the titular nuclear disaster area. Today, we have a first trailer for the film to share.

Peli first came onto the scene with Paranormal Activity as the writer, producer and director. With a Paranormal Activity 4 coming out later this year, that franchise has now taken over the Halloween horror mantle from the Saw movies. Peli was also a producer in the box office success of last year’s Insidious, which came out nearly a year from when Chernobyl Diaries hits theaters.

Of late, Peli has been writer/producer on ABC’s lackluster found-footage TV series The River and is he holds those same credits with Chernobyl Diaries. Director duties go to first-timer Brad Parker, who started in visual effects and has worked on movies such as Fight Club and Let Me In – the latter of which he was also Second Unit Director on. The cast is also a group of relative unknowns, with the biggest draw being voice actor Jesse McCartney (Robin on Young Justice).

Check out the Chernobyl Diaries followed by a brief synopsis of the movie:

“Chernobyl Diaries” is an original story from Oren Peli, who first terrified audiences with his groundbreaking thriller, “Paranormal Activity.” The film follows a group of six young tourists who, looking to go off the beaten path, hire an “extreme tour” guide. Ignoring warnings, he takes them into the city of Pripyat, the former home to the workers of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor, but a deserted town since the disaster more than 25 years ago. After a brief exploration of the abandoned city, however, the group soon finds themselves stranded, only to discover that they are not alone…

Even though this is not a found-footage movie, you can see many of those same elements and camera tricks being used here. The location does seem to be a great one and rife with possibilities for a good scare or two. Other than that, there doesn’t seem to be anything new going on in this trailer, as most of the set ups going on here look pretty familiar – almost as if The Hills Have Eyes had been dropped into Eastern Europe. It’s still too early to tell if this film will simply be a series of ‘gotcha shots,’ but here’s hoping there may be some new surprises.